


Werewolf Book Club

by quelleheureestil



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-30
Updated: 2013-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-03 00:53:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1063730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quelleheureestil/pseuds/quelleheureestil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every year, Stiles mourns the death of his mom the only way he knows how: reading. This year, he can't concentrate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Werewolf Book Club

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone! This is my first Sterek fic, so I hope you like it! A little heads up, there are excerpt from The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and Twilight by Stephanie Meyer as well as spoilers for Divergent by Veronica Roth and a mention of The Maze Runner by James Dashner, so if you haven't read these books and want to, I suggest you save my fic until after you read them! 
> 
> A big thanks to my friend who beta'd this for me: SweetenedSpoilers  
> She's a great author who posts Sterek and Merthur fics, so go check her out!

If there’s one little known fact about Stiles Stilinski, it would have to be that he loves to read. Not just articles online or ancient books when the current big bad decides to wreck havoc in sleepy Beacon Hills, but actual novels; ones with a fascinating plot, great character development, and something that makes him feel like he just went on an epic adventure and lived to tell about it once he has finished (and he definitely knows what that feels like. Seriously.)

 

He gets it from his mom. She used to read to him all the time: during bath time, outside on a nice day, and of course, a bedtime story. For this reason, when the anniversary of his mom’s death comes up, Stiles goes into a frenzy. He reads anything he can get his hands on. Whether it be the newspaper, his Chemistry book, or one of the stacks of novels he just stocked up on from the local library, Stiles is reading from the end of March to the end of April.

 

Scott and his dad are the only ones to ever really notice. And they let him be. It’s an acceptable way to cope, and Stiles knows that his dad is happy that he is remembering his mom and carrying on her tradition.

  

But Stiles just can’t fucking _concentrate_. With all the supernatural shit that has been happening lately, there is all kinds of chatter. At school, Scott can’t quit talking about Allison and how to get her back. At home, when the sheriff is there, he’s pouring over files while pouring himself a whiskey. Stiles has to help him to make sure he doesn’t drink too much and get his dad to eat something healthy. When the sheriff isn’t home, one of the pack members are there trying to get him to research something or get him to help them pass one of their classes or they need advice on something or—Stiles doesn’t even know anymore.

 

As the date of Claudia Stilinski’s death draws closer, Stiles is feeling more and more anxious. He has a stack of books that he wants to read, but he can’t focus. It’s not quiet enough with people around while he reads, but when he’s alone, it’s too quiet (a problem he’s been having since dealing with the Alpha Pack). Since he can’t stay at his house and read, he decides to go to the house of the quietest person he knows: the almighty alpha, Derek Hale.

  

While they aren’t best friends, Derek and Stiles can tolerate each other and even border on friends occasionally. This has been aided by the fact that Scott decided to accept Derek as his alpha (with much prodding from Stiles, who admitted to himself that he doesn’t know everything about being a werewolf and knew Scott would need Derek’s help. Also, Stiles realizes that it’s smart for them to be part of the same team from the beginning when going up against a supernatural beast instead of teaming up at the last minute). By extension, Stiles is now part of the pack. Which, Stiles thinks to himself, makes Derek his alpha too. Stiles snorts. There is no way in hell that Stiles will ever submit to Derek. Nevertheless, Stiles gathers up three books, grabs his keys, and heads out to the newly renovated Hale house.

 

On his way over, memories begin to flood Stiles’ mind: his mother’s soft voice, the smell of lavender as she hugs him, the feel of warm hands threading through his hair, the sight of his mom and dad dancing without music in the kitchen as she made dinner. Stiles had to rip himself from his thoughts before he had a panic attack in the middle of highway 32. The turn-off to get to the preserve couldn’t come fast enough.

  

Derek met him on the porch. Stiles normally didn’t come unless it was an emergency. What Derek didn’t realize was that it was an emergency, and Stiles wasn’t going to explain. Stiles marched right by Derek, into the living room, and dropped onto one of the comfy couches. He wiggled around, digging in for a marathon reading session.

“What are you doing?” A scowling voice asked from behind Stiles. 

“What does it look like, Sourwolf?” Stiles said, waving a book around in the air before cracking the spine and flipping to the first page.

“Why here?” The voice asked, this time closer. Stiles sighed, but dutifully ignored the grouch. Any other day, it was like pulling teeth to get him to say one word, but today of all days, Derek actually says a complete sentence. Two of them!

 

Stiles began to read even though he can feel Derek’s glare on the back of his neck. He got through four more pages before he became annoyed.

“Here,” Stiles says before thrusting one of the books he brought Derek’s way. Derek gives him a puzzled look. “I’m reading. I can’t concentrate with you staring at me. I have extra books. Read with me.” Stiles says before plopping back to his original position and flipping to the page he left off on. It takes him a few minutes, but eventually Derek sits on the other side of the couch and opens the book in his hands.

 

And they read like that. In silence. Stiles finished his book, which was mediocre at best, and moved onto the next one in the pile. He was just starting to get absorbed in Thomas’s experience in the Glade when he heard an outraged noise to his left. He glanced up and Derek is holding up his book incredulously.

“What the hell was that?” Derek demands angrily.

“ _That’s_ what people like to call a book, Sourwolf. Didn’t you have them growing up?” Stiles snarked.

“That’s not what I meant, dumbass. Why the hell would anyone read this?” Stiles glanced at the book and sees that it’s _The Fault in Our Stars_ by John Green. He didn’t realize that he picked it up, but it was one of his favorites, despite the morbid storyline. 

“I like the realism of it. It’s not a happy ending. It’s not a fairytale. It’s real life. Things like that happen in real life, and John Green isn’t afraid to write about it. It’s refreshing.” Stiles said shrugging. He picks up the book that he just read and tosses it at Derek. 

“Here you go. It wasn’t that great, but it had the fairytale ending if that’s what you wanted.” Derek looked at the book and then back at Stiles with a curious look on his face. Well, as curious as Derek can look with his angry eyebrows and normally blank face. Stiles just ignored him, wiggled down into his previous position, and continued reading.

 

The pile of books got smaller and smaller as the day progressed. Every time Stiles would finish a book, he would place it in front of Derek, and every time Derek would finish a book, he would place it in front of Stiles. Pretty soon, the duo was out of books, and an awkward silence ensued. Stiles gathered the books and stood up, and Derek rose as well. They stared at each other for a moment before Stiles gathered the nerve to say, “Uh, thanks for today. I’ll, uh, see you around?”

 

Derek just nodded while looking at Stiles with those pondering eyes again. Stiles, tired of the looks, quickly turned around and marched to his jeep.

  

After throwing the books on the passenger’s seat, Stiles sat in the driver’s seat and just looked at the Hale house for a moment. The renovations took a long time. Well, no. Actually, the renovations were relatively quick; it was just the indecisive alpha who wanted everything perfect that held everything up. But who could blame him? A lot of terrible shit happened here, but there were also a lot of fond memories too. How could someone balance that inside of them? In the end, the Hale house became a 2-story masterpiece with a rustic wooden exterior and a big wrap around porch. The distressed, red shutters accented the beautiful color of the house while matching the tin roof that it was topped with. The inside looked just as homey as the outside, complete with a fully stocked kitchen, a giant dining room, and a cozy living room that had a big screen TV. There were at least 5 guest rooms, just in case the pack decided they all wanted to stay over (which Stiles didn’t get because they all ended up in a puppy pile in the living room anyways). And who could forget the giant master suite for the alpha himself. Stiles shook his head and started his jeep before Derek could come out to stare at him questioningly again.

  

The next day when Stiles came over after school, Derek only looked at him for a minute before joining him on the couch and grabbing a book. They fall into a steady rhythm of reading and passing books until their stomachs start growling. At that point, Derek went and ordered pizza before continuing to read. It was gloriously silent, and Stiles couldn’t put into words how much it meant to him. Not that he would ever tell anyone. They ate the pizza while they read. Once they were finished with the stack allotted for that day, it wasn’t as awkward of a goodbye as it was the day before. In fact, Derek actually started asking questions about a book that they had read.

“So, Tris is a divergent?” Derek asked while helping stack the books.

“That is correct, Bookwolf.”

“And that Tibias, Four, whatever his name was, he’s also a divergent?” Derek asked again.

“Yep.” Stiles replied looking at Derek.

“And why does that matter? What’s so amazing about divergents?” Derek questioned looking confused. That seems to be his average look nowadays. 

“Looks like we’ll have to read the rest of the series to find out.” Stiles said. Neither of them pointed out that Stiles just insinuated that this would happen again. Neither of them acknowledged the fact that they were really enjoying each other’s company in this manner.

  

Neither of them wanted to stop.

 

And days passed in this manner. Stiles would come with a stack of books, Derek would join him, they would eat, discuss, and Stiles would leave. It was…nice. Eventually, as time went on, Stiles would notice books already laying on the coffee table in front of the couch when he would get there. It made Stiles happy that Derek was sharing his own personal collection of books with him. And Derek had a really good taste in books. The majority that Derek shared, Stiles would go and spend his allowance on at Barnes and Nobles. Also, as time went on, the more comfortable Stiles and Derek became with each other. It started with longer conversations about the books (“How could she do that to Peeta?” “I don’t know, Derek, maybe it’s called survival?” “But she ends up with Peeta!” ““I know, but high stress situations tend to breed the strongest relationships!” The conversation dissipated rather quickly after that). Then came the point where if one would find a particularly touching passage, or perhaps something that sounded weird, he would read it to the other (“His gold eyes grew very soft. ‘You said you loved me.’ ‘You knew that already,’ I reminded him, ducking my head. ‘It was nice to hear, just the same.’ I hid my face against his shoulder. ‘I love you,’ I whispered. ‘You are my life now,’ he answered simply. There was nothing more to say for the moment. He rocked us back and forth as the room grew lighter.” What the fuck? Why must every teenage novel be a fairytale romance novel? They’re like 17!” “You’re the one who picked the books, Stiles.” “Shut up, asswolf.”)

 

And now, their relationship has progressed to the point where Stiles is resting his head on Derek’s thigh and wondering how it got there. It was comfortable though. After their customary talk about the books and Stiles went home, Stiles realized what tomorrow was.

  

How could he forget?

  

Stiles feels like a terrible son. That night, if his pillow was a little more wet that normal, no one had to know.

 

The next day, Stiles didn’t go to school. That was normal. His dad went to work. That was normal. Both Stilinski men dealt with the loss of Claudia differently. The sheriff buried himself in work while Stiles liked to read, make her favorite foods, and just all in all remember her. And that’s exactly what Stiles does. Upon waking up, he went down to the kitchen and made a scrambled egg and bacon (turkey bacon of course) hot tub for some toast men. Stiles chuckled while constructing the amusing plate of food. Stiles’ dad always wondered who was more of a child: Claudia or Stiles. From there, Stiles turned on some of his mom’s favorite music and read some of the books that have been left untouched on the book shelf since last year. Pretty soon, Stiles was curled up on the couch, wrapped in his mother’s old quilt with her favorite book to read to him still opened to where he had left off.

 

When Stiles wakes up, he is immediately aware of a dark, brooding presence watching him.

“You read _Twilight_ and commented on how creepy this was. Who knew you were more like Edward than Jacob.” Stiles snipped tiredly.

  
“You didn’t come by the house. You didn’t answer your phone. Scott said you weren’t in school.” Derek accused. Stiles remembered turning his phone off, and of course Scott wouldn’t tell Derek what today was. Scott was good like that: loyal to a fault.

 

“I realize.” Stiles didn’t want to deal with this right now. He just wanted to mope and go visit his mom’s grave.

 

“I was worried.” Derek said quietly to his feet. Stiles looked at Derek then and actually saw him since he woke up. His hair was puffed up like hands had been run through it repeatedly. His face looked tight. His eyebrows were lower and closer than usual. He was actually worried. Stiles sat up, pulled the blanket back, and patted the seat next to him. Derek hesitated a moment before taking the seat.

 

“My mom used to love to read this to me.” Stiles said quietly looking at the front of the book in his hands: _Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone_. Derek closed his eyes in understanding before placing a warm hand on Stiles’ neck. Stiles flipped to the last chapter of the book and began reading out loud, like he has done a thousand times before with Derek, but this time, it felt different. It felt more intimate. As Stiles read, Derek’s hand rubbed soothing circles into the back of his neck, and by the end of the book, Stiles was leaning into Derek and sniffling. Once finished, Stiles wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and stood up.

 

“Want to go somewhere with me?” Stiles asked quietly. The answer he got was Derek standing up as well. Stiles lead him outside to his jeep and started to drive. Stiles could tell when Derek knew where they were going by the way he tensed up, but he remained silent. After pulling the emergency break and turning off the ignition, Stiles looked at Derek.

  
“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

 

Derek looked at him and replied with, “Come on, Stiles” and got out of the car. Once Stiles made his way around the car, he tugged on Derek’s sleeve to lead the way. Derek rested his hand on his lower back, and it rested there as a comforting weight.

 

The headstone was black marble that aged rather well thanks to its spot under a tree. The grass needed mowing and the plastic flowers that were in the vase looked horribly fake, but Stiles had nowhere else he’d rather be. And there was no other person in the world that he wanted to share it with.

  
“Hey, mom.” Stiles’ voice caught in his throat. “I want you to meet someone. This is my…”

 

Friend didn’t seem strong enough. What do you call someone who has been there for you without knowing why? What do you call someone who indulges your interests and shares their own? What do you call someone who, at this point, you can’t imagine your life without them?

 

 “This is someone who is really important to me. His name is Derek.”

 

And then the floodgates opened. Stiles talked about everything that has happened since the last time he had been to visit, which thanks to the supernatural bullshit has been a while. The entire time he talked, Stiles could feel Derek’s warm presence behind him, and by the end, Stiles was thoroughly exhausted.

 

“I miss you, mom. So fucking much. Everyday. I love you.” And with that, Derek helped Stiles up and led him back to the jeep.

 

It took Stiles a while to realize that he, in fact, was not driving, but he was actually in the passenger’s seat, and Derek was driving. The fact that that didn’t bother him bothered him.

 

“Where are we going?” Stiles asked.

 

“You need to eat.” Derek replied quietly.

 

“Wow, Edward, first food, next you’re going to be telling me that you’re attracted to my blood.” Stiles deadpanned and Derek just rolled his eyes at him. They continued on in silence, but Stiles didn’t notice. He was too lost in thought. Since when had their relationship progressed to this? Stiles supposed that it had been moving towards this, but neither of them acknowledged it out of ease. Stiles was still lost in thought when Derek squeezed his shoulder signaling that they had stopped.

  

He looked up and realized that they were at his favorite greasy diner. Derek wouldn’t meet his eyes and looked a bit twitchy as he got out of the car. Stiles shrugged and hopped down to follow Derek into the diner. Stiles didn’t feel the least bit hungry walking into the diner, but once it was set in front of him, he ate his way through not only his own order of curly fries, but Derek’s also. And then he ate half of Derek’s double bacon cheeseburger. Derek didn’t seem to mind. He just kept putting food in front of Stiles until he stopped eating it. After that big of a meal, Stiles felt really sleepy. He watched Derek put the money for the meal on the table through drooping lids, and Derek let Stiles lean on him on the way back to the jeep. Derek took the driver’s seat again and began to drive, and it wasn’t long before Stiles’ eyes closed and unconsciousness took over.

 

He only woke up momentarily when he felt like he was being moved. Through slitted eyes, Stiles saw Derek carrying him. Well crap, there goes Stiles’ masculinity points for today.

 

“Where are we, D’rek?” Stiles slurred.

 

“Your house. Go back to sleep.” Derek said in a hushed voice.

 

And you know what? That sounded like such a great idea that Stiles did just that, curling into Derek’s glorious warmth. That night was one of the first that Stiles slept well enough that he woke up feeling rested; however, when he thought to the day before, Stiles jerked up in bed. Was he reading into it too much or did it seem like Derek actually cared? Like he was taking care of Stiles? Stiles shook his head trying not to focus on it. Stiles is the king of unrequited feelings. Stiles got up to log onto his computer to drown himself in random Wikipedia pages when he noticed the white piece of paper folded in half so it would stand up. On it was written a single word in archaic script that could only be Derek’s: **_Okay?_** Stiles grabbed the paper and fled his house like hell hounds were on his heels.

 

When he burst into the Hale house, Derek was standing at the counter eating cereal, which was an odd sight. When Derek looked over at Stiles, who was in the clothes from yesterday, barefoot, and out of breath, Derek raised an eyebrow. Stiles lifted the now crumpled piece of paper.

“I really hope that this was a reference to Hazel and Augustus’ inside joke of ‘okay’ being their ‘always’ and you not just asking if I’m okay. And if it’s the former over the latter, okay. Okay! Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, oka-” At that point, Derek must’ve gotten annoyed because he crossed the room in 3 strides and kissed Stiles silent.

“Okay?” Stiles asked softly when Derek pulled away. Derek rested his forehead against Stiles and replied just as soft, “Okay.”

 

**11 Months Later**

 

Now when Stiles comes over to the Hale house for his reading binge, he’s not carrying stacks of books. There are plenty of good books on the bookshelves that are now in the living room that are ever changing thanks to the pack. Stiles doesn’t have to worry about not being able to focus. Derek made sure that the pack stays out of the house for the afternoons he knows that Stiles will be over and reading. Stiles doesn’t have to worry about the all encompassing silence because he can hear Derek’s heartbeat as he sits with his head on Derek’s chest while they read. Stiles doesn’t have to worry about his feelings for Derek anymore because Stiles knows that they are reciprocated. Stiles knows how Derek feels because ever once in a while Derek likes to read a passage from his favorite book, _The Fault in our Stars_ (he is such a sap): “‘ **I’m in love with you,** ’ he said quietly. ‘Augustus,’ I said. ‘I am,’ he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. ‘I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and **I am in love with you**.’”


End file.
